Actor Anthony Borgese pled guilty today to extorting a debtor who was beaten by mob goons. Borgese, who uses the stage name Tony Darrow, faces up to 41 months in prison for intimidating an upstate car dealership whose owner had sought Borgese's help in collecting the debt.
Borgese's lawyer made clear that his client never touched the victim, but the unidentified debtor ended up with a broken jaw and broken rib. On an FBI recording, a Gambino associate is heard laying out the extortion plot, saying, "So Tony [Borgese] meets them ... shows them where the house is. They go to the house ... the guy answers the door ... they beat the living sh*t out of him." Borgese is best known for two mob roles, as Sonny Bunz, the put-upon owner of the Bamboo Lounge in Goodfellas, and DiMeo crime family captain Larry Boy Barese in The Sopranos. Between Borgese, Lillo Brancato Jr. and Vinny Vella, it seems The Sopranos casting directors really knew what they were doing.
